Lodestar Chapter 3
Chapter 3 Billy Bob Lipscomb sat on one of the benches on the Court House Square. He could see the tall Christmas Tree near the courthouse. He had grown up in Lodestar most of his life, and he just felt like he was drained from being associated with one of the sleaziest people in town. His sister, Ruby Briscoe, walked up. "Billy, you can't just keep beating yourself up," she said. "I can't help it," he said sadly, "by being tied up with that bum Hemphill, because of Virgil. I am a fool." "No, you're not, honey," Ruby said, hugging her brother, "I know what you did was bad, and you felt like you betrayed Jasmine, but she knew that you loved her. Katie isn't mad either. After Dad threw you out, I fought it to get Katie out of his house. She's safe. She's living with Roger and I. Roscoe Lipscomb is no better than anyone!" "I hope Katie will be all right," Billy Bob said. "She will be," Ruby said, "I promise you that." Just then, Virgil Roberts showed his face. Billy Bob and Ruby glared hard at their enemy. "Well, well, well" Virgil sneered, "if it ain't the two fools who are all bent outta shape because I had a bit of fun with their relative! Y'all cain't deny ol' Virg a good time!" Ruby shot him a vicious look, "Listen to me, you vile vindictive worm," she hissed, "you and that piece of garbage tied my daughter down, drugged her; beat her, raped her and she had no other recourse than to take her own life. I hold you two PERSONALLY responsible for her death." Virgil laughed, "Oh, come on, Ruby," he scoffed, "all she was, and all she would ever be, was a good piece of ass!" Billy Bob roared, "She was only FOURTEEN years old," his voice shaking with rage, "she was a CHILD! You committed Statutory Rape, and that'll land your ass in Huntsville. Also, you drove her to suicide, which could also land you with manslaughter charges!" Virgil glared at his ex-friend, "You dare talk down to me, boy?!" he snarled. Billy Bob glared right back at him, "Don't you DARE take that tone with me, BOY!" he snarled right back at him, "You and that trash Truett Hemphill raped my niece and killed her, you are nothing but trash! I don't ever want to speak to you again!" Virgil slugged Billy Bob as hard as he could, knocking him down. "Now, that is what you get for bashing a sterling citizen like Truett Hemphill!" he bragged. Ruby slapped Virgil hard, "You piece of crap," she yelled, "I am going to make sure you pay for what you did!" Chad Hutchinson came running across from his law office, he saw Billy Bob get slugged. Frieda Cottle, a spinster who was the head waitress at Floyd's Café, came out, Ruby's husband, Roger, who had been at the Gold Star, came over to help his brother in-law. Virgil roared with laughter after he belted Billy Bob! Roger glared at Virgil. "That's just like you, isn't it, you piece of garbage?!" he snapped, "You lash out at people who dare to disagree or talk down to you and your so-called 'benefactor', Truett Hemphill! I think you two are disgusting!" Virgil sniffed, "I don't care!" he said, and snapping his fingers, his usual sign of dismissal, started to walk away, but Chad Hutchinson stopped him. "You're not going anywhere, Roberts!" Chad said, "Frieda, call the police; I'm calling the paramedics." Frieda nodded, "I'm on it, Chad," she said. Lois Yoakum, who worked at an antique store on the west end of the Square, came up and shot Virgil a dirty look. "Well," she sniffed, "it looks like you never learn, do you, Roberts?!" Virgil looked at her as if she were nothing. "Who cares what you think, Woman?!" Virgil spat in fury, "I took out Billy Bob Lipscomb because he wouldn't dare to shut his mouth about his damned niece!" "It's a good thing we never had kids, you reprobate!" Lois yelled, "That is one good thing. I shudder at the thought of a child having a piece of trash like you for a father!" Virgil sneered, "Who cares?! At least the kids would have had morals!" Roger shot Virgil a nasty look, "Morals?!" he scoffed, "You have the damned NERVE to speak to us on MORALS?! You are aligned with one of the biggest hypocrites this town has ever seen! You and your friend murdered my daughter! You have NO right to speak to us about morals!" Virgil glared at everyone, "Truett is a wonderful man," he screeched, "a man of high virtue, and a pillar of this community!" "Yeah, right," Claire Floyd shot back at him, "you and your buddy ran off after leaving Jasmine beaten and bruised. Were it not for Justin and I helping her out, she would have been even worse off! I am still sad that she had killed herself! I ought to have you dunned on murder charges! You and that damned Truett!" Just then, Truett pulled up in his sports car. "Come on, Virgil," he urged, "we don't need to deal with the rest of the scum in this town!" Virgil snapped his fingers in dismissal and walked off to Truett's car and they drove off, the both of them laughing and proud of what they did. Frieda Cottle said, "Someone HAS to stop them!" Chad Hutchinson agreed, "Yes, but who?" Ruby Briscoe nodded, "Roger, let's get Billy to the hospital," she urged. Roger nodded, "He'll be all right, honey," he said, "Bill, you're gonna be all right, buddy. Rube and I will be with ya at the hospital." The paramedics came up and so did the police. The cops took statements from Frieda and Chad, and the paramedics loaded Billy Bob into the ambulance. Roger and Ruby went with him. Virgil and Truett pulled over to the side of the road. Truett then slapped Virgil across the face! "What was THAT for?!" Virgil groaned. Truett glared at him, "You just made a HUGE spectacle of yourself on that court house square!" he spat, "now, the WHOLE damned town knows of what we did! We're gonna have to leave Lodestar! And permanently too! I'll have to get married to Alzada fast!" "Her divorce isn't final, yet," Virgil groaned. "Well, you'd better hope that the cops can't get to us," Truett threatened, "you stupid fool! Now, because of your damned mouth, you've left us wide open for prosecution! There is no statute of limitations on what we did, since we did it two years ago!" Meanwhile, at the offices of the Lodestar Spectrum, the local paper's editor, Hank Lynn, looked at the front page. He smiled a Cheshire Cat smile. "Truett Hemphill," he thought, "you're gonna be finished when this gets printed!" The headline read: RAPE/MURDER SUSPECTS REVEALED IN THE JASMINE BRISCOE CASE! Category:Lodestar Episodes